


The Wolf Behind the Wall

by IAmATree78



Category: Carol (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Werewolf, Angst, F/F, Hurt/Comfort, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-21
Updated: 2016-03-21
Packaged: 2018-05-28 02:27:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6311467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IAmATree78/pseuds/IAmATree78
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Carol has more secrets than she lets on, but behind her elegant composure lies something even she can't hide from forever. A rough night on the road trip reveals the truth and Therese is left to pick up the pieces.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Wolf Behind the Wall

**Author's Note:**

> I had a weird dream that somehow werewolf!Carol was canon and when I woke up I had to write it out. This has been glaring at me from my laptop for a few weeks so I figured posting it would make me feel better. It's... different? If variety is the spice of life, allow me to put this in your spice rack. Might not be for everyone, but it was kind of fun to write. Feel free to let me know what you think!
> 
> Update: For anyone who wanted me to write more about this concept or any other weird AU, let me know what you want to see or what ideas you have and I'm totally willing to write more!

Carol opened the paper and flipped around to the page she’d been looking for.

“Full moon tonight,” she said, frowning. Therese swallowed her mouthful of coffee. Carol folded the paper back up and sighed.

“We knew it would be.” She reached for Carol’s hand and squeezed it. Through her weariness, Carol managed a smile. “I packed a suitcase for you and told work I couldn’t go in tomorrow. We can go back to that spot by the lake if you want.” Carol let go to light herself a cigarette. Therese watched her hands, so steady and sure of every move, the very essence of Carol herself. She took a drag from the cigarette and looked thoughtfully at Therese.

“I think that’s as good a place as any. We don’t want a repeat of that first mess I left in the car.” They both laughed at that, even though it wasn’t all that funny. Carol sat back in her chair and stared at her, capturing her as she always did with her bright blue eyes. Without looking away, she flicked the end of her cigarette, sending the spent ashes tumbling into the ashtray. They stayed quiet for a moment until Carol finally spoke. It was the same question as always, filled with the same anxiety. “You don’t think I’m a monster?”

“No,” Therese said automatically. “I’ve told you a billion times and I’ll repeat it until we’re both dead and buried; I love you exactly as you are, no matter what that may be.” Carol’s smile overflowed with so much pure affection that Therese couldn’t help but return it. Carol shook her head, chuckling.

“I always knew you were a strange one.”

\- - - - - - - - - - - - -

The car ride to the lake was mostly quiet but not unpleasant. Therese drove and Carol sat in the passenger seat watching the landscape roll by. Carol flipped on the radio and occasionally hummed along. Two hours outside the city, they came to the lake. It was small, surrounded by trees, with a beautiful view of the sky. The sun had just gone down and Therese could tell Carol was anxious.

“Are you hungry?” She asked, fishing for the picnic basket in the backseat.

“Starved,” Carol replied. But she refused the food Therese had brought, not even accepting the cigarette she offered, and instead stared out of the windshield, growing increasingly tense. The sky settled into darkness while Therese ate and the first stars were starting to appear when Carol finally moved. She pulled off her fur coat and tossed it into the back seat. She was wearing only a robe underneath and she tugged anxiously at the tie. “I think it’s time, darling.” Her voice was strained. Therese nodded.

They got out of the car and Therese crushed Carol in an embrace. She held on just as tight, kissing the top of Therese’s head and letting out a long, shaky breath. They clung together like the last two people on earth for what felt like an eternity, but Therese knew it was only a few minutes. Carol gasped and pulled back.

“I have to go,” she said quickly. Therese could see the pain in her eyes. They kissed quickly and Carol held her face for a moment. “You’ll be here when I get back?”

“Don’t ask me that. Of course.” They kissed again and broke apart when Carol grimaced and hissed through her teeth. Over the edge of the trees Therese could see the faint halo of the moon rising. “Go,” she said gently. Carol nodded and let go, shedding her robe and handing it to Therese. Her naked body was pale and beautiful. It seemed to glow against the darkness around them. She shivered at the cold. Or maybe it was a shudder of pain.

“Try to get some sleep, will you?” She took a step back as she spoke, her desire to put distance between them showing clear in her face.

“You know I won’t.” Carol gave a half-smile and nodded.

“I know. I’ll see you in the morning.” She turned around and walked away, around the edge of the lake and into the trees. Therese watched until she was out of sight and then returned to the car. She locked the doors, a precaution Carol insisted, and pulled a blanket out of the backseat. With Carol’s robe balled up in her arms, she settled in to wait.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

It had been on that first trip. Therese had watched Carol closely. Her hands were shaking as she lit her cigarette and her usually elegant and composed face was tight with anxiety. She was distant at dinner, constantly checking her watch and glancing out the window even though it was barely dusk. It was as if she was waiting for something awful, for some dark executioner to come from the shadows and strike her dead. Back in their motel room she had insisted that she had to go somewhere. Therese hadn’t seen her so flustered since the first Sunday at her house when Carol had sent her away out of the blue. Now she was in a near panic, smoking cigarette after cigarette, insisting she had to leave, then turning around and digging through her suitcase or going into the bathroom to splash water on her face. Eventually, Therese got her to stop for long enough to speak to her.

“Please,” Therese begged, frightened. “What’s wrong? Is someone here? Are you in some kind of trouble?” Carol sat down on one of the beds and put her head in her hands. Therese sat across from her on the other bed and waited quietly. Carol ran her fingers through her hair and tugged at her usually flawless curls, sighing in a frustrated huff.

“I didn’t want you to find out this way. Or at all.” She sat up and closed her eyes. She looked thinner than usual and impossibly tired. “I’ve been thinking all night of some way to say it, but I’m afraid I can’t explain it in a way you’ll believe.”

“You don’t know what I’ll believe,” Therese said. Carol let out a humorless chuckle.

“Soon enough neither of us will have a choice.”

“What do you mean?” Carol’s hand balled up into a fist and she gasped. “Can I do anything to help?”

“Therese, listen to me very carefully.” She got up and grabbed her suitcase from the end of the bed. From within the layers of fabric she pulled out a gun, small and silver with a white handle. A shudder ran through her and she dropped it back into the pile of clothes, then she composed herself and handed the gun quickly to Therese. “You’re not going to like this, and you’re not going to want to hurt me if it comes to it, but I need you to protect yourself.” She stood up and took off her scarf, tugging it from her neck roughly as if it were strangling her. Therese stared at the gun in her hands, feeling panic rise in her throat.

“Carol, what’s going on?” At the dresser, Carol was removing all of her jewelry, fighting against her own trembling hands. She let out a groan and gripped the edge of the dark wood. Therese left the gun on the bed and got up to help, but Carol jerked away from her touch. Her forehead was covered in a shining layer of sweat and she backed away from Therese like a frightened animal.

“I’m going to need you to do something for me,” She said, pulling off her blazer with difficulty and tossing it onto the floor.

“Yes, anything,” Therese said. Carol grabbed her shoulders, breathing heavily. Her voice was strained and hoarse when she spoke, like she was barely managing not so sob.

“I’m going to go into the bathroom and I want you to wait. You’ll know when it’s over. Then I need you to open the door and get me outside. It’s not going to make much sense to you now. It might not ever make sense. But you’ll have to be careful, Therese. Can you do that?” Therese couldn’t get any words out of her mouth. Carol’s fingers dug into her shoulders hard. “Can you get me outside without hurting yourself?”

“Y-Yes, but Carol-”

“Good. Open the door to the outside before you let me out of the bathroom then just get out of the way. And I need you to promise me something else.”

“What is it?”

“I can’t tell you until you promise.”

“Carol I-“

“Do you trust me, Therese?”

“Absolutely.” Carol said nothing, just looked at her with complete seriousness. “I promise. Whatever it is I promise I’ll do it.”

“If I come after you, I want you to shoot me.” Tears welled up in Therese’s eyes.

“If you what? Carol, please. Please tell me what’s going on.” But Carol offered no explanation. Instead, her eyes widened and she shoved Therese back, knocking her to the floor. Her face twisted with pain and she fled into the bathroom.

Therese made to follow but Carol slammed the door shut and screamed for her to stay out. It sounded as if she were being attacked. Fabric ripped, a glass shattered, and Carol let out an agonizing cry. The sound of Carol in so much pain tore at Therese’s ears and she began to cry, feeling utterly helpless. She knelt with hands against the door, listening as the groans and screams faded into whimpers that sounded less and less like Carol. She kept her ear pressed to the door and waited. The room fell completely silent.

“Carol?” She called. She knocked softly. 

Something large slammed into the door and Therese pushed herself backwards across the floor. She heard a low growl. “Carol?” She called again, panicked. All that came back was more scratching and growling. Her heart dropped into her stomach. The only thoughts that came into her head were stories- myths and fairytales and books she had read over the years- that she knew couldn’t be real. If this was some joke Carol was playing, it wasn’t funny. “I’m opening the door!” She stood up and reached for the bathroom door handle—when the howling started. Her hand hovered in midair and her hair stood on end. The sound was unmistakably not human.

Therese backed away. It was impossible, but somehow she knew this wasn’t a joke. She turned and the glint of the gun on the bed caught her eye. Her hand shook when she grabbed it. The only time she’d even seen a gun was in movies and she was unprepared for the weight of it. Carefully, she cocked it and let out a breath when she felt the hammer click into place. 

The thing in the bathroom howled again. Therese opened the hotel room door, bracing herself against the winter wind and the chill of terror that had already settled in her chest. Slowly, trembling all over, she moved towards the bathroom.

“C-Carol… I opened the door. If you can hear me, I’m going to let you out.” She wiped her sweaty hand on her skirt and turned the handle slowly. Quickly, she pushed the door open and retreated against the wall.

Instead of Carol, a massive wolf prowled out of the bathroom, sniffing at the air. It was almost as big as Therese with sleek grey and white fur and paws that looked as large as her head. It was as beautiful as it was terrifying. She backed away slowly and it growled, baring deadly fangs and locking its clear blue eyes onto hers.

“St-Stay back,” she said, trying to sound bigger and stronger than she felt. “Get away!” But it kept coming towards her. 

Therese backed towards the corner, trapped in between the wall and the bed, and kept watching the wolf carefully. Its teeth were long and white. One jump and she knew its jaws would have the strength to end her life. Even if the bite didn’t kill her, she knew her life would be over. The small portion of her brain that wasn’t screaming fleetingly wondered how long Carol had been dealing with this. How long had she been running away to hotels or rest stops or highways to become this creature? How many people had ever seen this beautiful beast and lived to tell about it? The wolf was still approaching and she decided she wanted to be one of the ones to live.

She held up the gun and tried stand her ground. The thought of shooting something that might be Carol was just as frightening as the creature before her, but she might not have a choice for much longer. She was shaking hard and she knew it must have smelled her terror. The creature kept coming. 

She tried to convince herself that she could shoot it, if she had to. But its eyes were undeniably Carol’s; those eyes that stared into her soul and woke up everything that had always been asleep. The eyes of the woman she loved. Carol’s eyes brought back memories of Carol’s laugh and her mischievous smile, the look she got when she focused hard on the road, that far-off and meaningful look she sometimes got when they talked about things like home and her marriage and what it meant to be in love. Then she thought of the absolute adoration in her eyes when she was with Rindy. Therese had never known her mother. Rindy did. Rindy would miss her. 

Therese broke. She couldn’t do it. As always, she was too weak and now she would suffer for it. She lowered the gun, practically quaking now; every muscle in her body was clenching to the point of pain. Tears welled in her eyes.

Therese couldn’t think. Fear had paralyzed her and her mind was buzzing. The wolf, Carol, was staring at her, but it didn’t come any closer. She heard part of her mind telling her body to move, but it was too far away and too muffled for her to listen to it. 

The wolf moved suddenly and Therese screamed. But rather than go in for the kill, it turned tail and bounded out of the hotel room door. As fast as it had begun, it was over. Carol had vanished and Therese stood alone in their hotel room, the gun still heavy in her hand.

The tears fell before she could breathe again. Even as a wolf, Carol had made her weak. For a long time she let herself sit and cry. She sank to the floor and wiped her eyes while she cautiously figured out how to un-cock the gun. She managed to do it and open the chamber in the process. Three small, elegant-looking silver bullets rolled onto the floor. The sight of them seemed to sober her. A cold breeze wafted in through the open door and ruffled her hair. She slowly dragged herself back together. She was the only one left to clean up the mess now until Carol came back.

If she came back. 

She shut out that thought and instead got up and reorganized the room. She shut the door, but didn’t lock it, then picked up Carol’s clothes from the bathroom and folded them on her bed. The damage to the bathroom door wasn’t too bad, but the scratch marks were visible. They’d likely have to pay for it. As tired as she was, she knew she wouldn’t sleep until Carol came back safe. Therese sipped Carol’s forgotten drink and curled up in bed to wait.

Just before dawn, the door knob turned and Therese leapt up. She threw her arms around Carol the second she got through the door, only pulling back when she realized the older woman’s hair was wet with blood. She took Carol’s haggard face in her hands and wiped the blood from one cheek with her thumb.

“Oh, Carol. Are you hurt?”

“I don’t think any of it is mine. Some poor animal I hope.” Another realization hit Therese as she looked at Carol’s blood-coated body.

“You’re- You’re not…” She moved to pull away, but Carol squeezed her arm.

“We’re past that sort of modesty, I think.” Therese swallowed and tried to keep her gaze from Carol’s nakedness.

Carol kicked the door shut behind them and pulled tighter against Therese. Neither of them spoke for a long time. When she finally let go, she wouldn’t meet Therese’s eyes. 

She stumbled on her way to the bathroom and fell to her knees in the middle of the room. When her body started to shake with sobs, Therese moved instantly to help. Without a word, she grabbed Carol’s hand and helped her up. She turned on the tub and helped Carol in. She had expected Carol to argue or insist that she could do this herself, but she didn’t say a word even when Therese started to wash the matted blood out of her hair; she sat quietly and let the tears fall while Therese took care of her. It was the closest she’d ever felt to another person, sitting here running her fingers through Carol’s hair. She let Carol scrub the blood from the rest of her body and brought her a clean towel and her long bathrobe. The water was pink and cold by the time Carol felt clean.

“Thank you,” she said quietly. She put on the robe and sat on her bed. She looked small and fragile, drained of her usual majesty. A few cuts and bruises had appeared on her otherwise immaculate skin and Therese knelt before her to tend to some of them. They’d brought a small first aid kit (“Just in case,” Carol had said.) and Carol didn’t even wince as Therese cleaned and bandaged her wounds.

There was a long silence as Carol watched Therese pack the first aid kit back up and toss away bandage wrappers and a few hopelessly bloody washcloths. When she finished, she turned and the two stared at each other.

“I’m sorry,” Carol said. Tears fell again and Therese rushed to wipe them away. She sat beside Carol and smothered her in an embrace.

“Don’t. This isn’t your fault.” Carol’s face was buried against her neck and she registered absently that they had never been so physically close before tonight. Being able to comfort Carol without fear or frightening her away was a new feeling. She wanted to be there to take care of Carol always. She kept crying for a long time while Therese whispered reassurances and softly stroked her damp hair. When she finally stopped, she didn’t let go. She pulled away just enough to look at Therese.

“Will you… Would you mind sleeping over here with me tonight? If you don’t want to that’s alright… I just…” She was visibly uncomfortable asking for help, but she swallowed her pride and continued. “It’s always hardest afterwards.” Her eyes were filled with a pleading Therese couldn’t refuse.

“I don’t mind.” She went to the bathroom to change and brush her teeth. The sky was beginning to lighten when she came out, so she closed the curtains before making her way to Carol’s bed. Carol pulled down the covers and clicked off the lamp. Therese settled in, hesitating for only a moment when Carol’s arms wound around her waist. She shifted, unsure of what to do in this situation. She’d only ever slept next to Richard and she’d never been very comfortable then. She eventually decided on what felt right; she lay comfortably on her back and pulled Carol’s head onto her chest, wrapping her arms protectively around her. “Is this okay?”

“Perfect. Thank you,” she said so softly that Therese almost didn’t hear. Her eyes were closed and she took a deep breath. After a moment she added an even softer “For everything.” Within minutes, she was fast asleep. Therese watched her for a moment. When they woke up, she would ask questions. She would give Carol time to get dressed and build up her walls again. It would be easier for her that way. For now, she thanked God that Carol had come back safe and that she had been able to help. Finally relaxed, she drifted off as well.

\- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -  
Therese saw something move from the edge of the trees and got out of the car. The sky was already pink. She must have wandered farther into the forest tonight. From the trees, Carol made her way to the lake. Therese stood by with her robe and an extra blanket as she washed mud from her skin and hair, hissing softly at the temperature of the water.

“God, I hate the cold,” she muttered. She took the robe from Therese and put it on before she was wrapped in the blanket. Therese kissed her on the cheek and turned towards the car. Carol caught her sleeve and kissed her softly on the lips. She let out a shaky sigh. “I don’t hate that.” Therese laughed and led her back to the car with an arm around her waist. She started the ignition and cranked up the heat while Carol fiddled with the radio, stifling a yawn.

“It’s been a long night,” Therese said. “You can sleep on the ride if you want.” Carol looked at her with tired eyes, but smiled anyway. She knew it was a long shot, but Therese still offered every time.

“You stayed up for me. It would be downright rude of me not to return the favor.” She grabbed Therese’s hand and squeezed it. “I’m here.” 

“Good.” 

Therese squeezed back, beaming, and drove them off into the sunrise.


End file.
